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The morning news. April 4, 1911, Image 1

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The Estancia News, Las Nuevas de la Estancia and The Morning News

Located on the plains east of the Manzano Mountains, Estancia, New Mexico, had long been a resting place along the trail from Chihuahua to Santa Fe. The modern town of Estancia was founded at the turn of the century, and the post office opened in 1903. The town's importance increased with the arrival of the railroad around the same time, and Estancia became the seat of Torrance County in 1905. By 1910, the population had grown to over 500 people.

Philip A. Speckmann began the Estancia News on October 21, 1904, as a weekly printed every Friday. At the same time, he published a Spanish version of the paper, Las Nuevas de Estancia, which continued until April 3, 1908. From April 3, 1911, until January 2, 1912, Speckmann changed the Estancia News to a daily version titled the Morning News. Speckmann sold the paper in January of 1912 to J. A. Constant, who began publishing it as theEstancia New-Herald. Speckmann moved to Belen where he later published the Belen News and El Hispano-Americano.

Speckmann's audience for all three newspapers included not only Estancia proper, but also the whole of Torrance County. The papers often included news and advertisements from other towns such as Manzano, Willard, Stanley, and McIntosh, Mountainair, and Moriarty, New Mexico. Other advertisements included items related to the sale of general goods, furniture, clothing, shoes, bicycles, and lumber. The papers also included a section for legal notices, railroad schedules, and church services.

The Estancia News varied between six and twelve pages, while Las Nuevas de Estancia spanned only four. However, the last three pages of the latter were often in English, including advertisements. Some issues of Las Nuevas did include sections of Los Dos Pilletes, a 19th-century novel by Spanish author Alvaro Carrillo. However, the Spanish in Las Nuevas exhibits noticeable errors in grammar and orthography that do not appear to be the work of a native speaker. Some of the content was simply translated items from the Estancia News, while other articles were original to the Spanish-language version. In 1906, a subscription for either paper cost $1.50 per year or five cents per issue.

The Morning News, published every day but Monday, was four pages long; a subscription cost $2.50 per year, 25 cents per month, or 10 cents per week. Many issues included an editorial or articles relating to the fight for statehood, public education, and important local events. Some issues of the Morning News also included short stories, such as From Lucile's Diary, or sections of The Chalice of Courage, a book by Cyrus Townshend Brady.

In 1907, N.W. Ayer & Son's American Newspaper Annual states that the Estancia News was a Republican paper with a circulation of 630 copies.